Notes for owners · Industry-Specific Software Guides
Who Does What in a Clinic OPD: Front Desk, Doctor, Lab and Accounts
The front desk owns the queue, registration and billing. The doctor owns the case sheet and prescription. Lab or pharmacy staff own orders, reports and stock, and accounts owns the day’s collections and each doctor’s share. Give each role its own screens, and access only to the records its work needs.
Ganesh HS, Strategy and Technology, GullySystem · · 3 min read
The front desk: queue, registration and the bill
The receptionist registers the patient, issues a token and takes the fee. Walk-ins, phone bookings and reviews should share one queue under one rule the whole desk follows. Two lists breed arguments.
The desk needs bookings, the queue and billing. It does not need clinical notes. Keeping those apart protects patients and keeps the counter screen simple.
- Name, age, phone and complaint at registration
- One queue for walk-ins, bookings and reviews
- Consultation and procedure fees collected
- Review date booked before the patient leaves
The doctor: case sheet and prescription
The doctor reads the last visit before this one starts. Complaints, vitals, diagnosis, prescription and reports belong on one case sheet that follows the patient across visits.
Typing must not slow the consultation. Templates for common prescriptions and a list of favourite medicines help. The doctor also sets the review date, so follow-up is not left to the patient’s memory.
Lab and pharmacy: orders, reports and stock
Tests ordered during the visit should reach the lab with the patient’s details. Reports, printed or sent on WhatsApp, are attached to the same case sheet. The plastic cover of old papers retires.
Pharmacy staff own medicine stock, batches near expiry and reorder levels. Whatever was issued against a bill should be traceable. A clinic without a pharmacy skips this role.
Accounts: collections and doctor shares
At day end, cash, UPI and card totals are matched against the bills raised. Consultation, procedure and lab income are kept apart. Each visiting doctor’s cases are listed for the share.
Agree the share rule in writing with each consultant. The month-end figure then becomes a report rather than a debate. The books stay with your CA.
- Bills raised against cash, UPI and card received
- Income split by consultation, procedure and lab
- Cases seen by each visiting doctor
- Refunds and discounts, with who approved them
Access by role, and who reviews it
Every role sees only what its work needs. Receptionists see bookings and bills, doctors see clinical notes, and pharmacy sees stock and issues. Each opening of a patient record should leave a log entry.
Someone, usually the owner doctor, reviews the access list every quarter. Staff who leave lose their login that day. How patient data rules apply to your clinic is a question for your lawyer or adviser.
- Role list with the screens each one opens
- Leavers removed on their last day
- Access log read by the owner doctor
OPD role map
A table with one row per task in a session, from registration to day-end cash, and columns for desk, doctor, lab, pharmacy and accounts. Mark who does each task and who checks it. Tasks with two owners, or none, are where the morning goes wrong.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Can patient records be linked to ABHA numbers?
No. GullySystem’s clinic system keeps records in your own system with no ABHA link today. If ABDM participation matters to you, raise it during scoping, because it is separate work.
Does the clinic system run a full pathology lab?
No. There is no pathology laboratory module, so sample status and result entry are not kept there. Reports added to the patient’s record can still be read beside the visit.
Is a single-doctor clinic too small for separate roles?
Not always. Even with one doctor and one receptionist, keeping the desk out of clinical notes is worth doing. If the register works and patients are few, a simple appointment app may be enough.